Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/26

 CLARENDON

4

CLARE

Wlien parties Iiave no fixed abode and are travelling throughout the coimtiy, they can enter wedlock only before a priest authorized by the bishop to assist at their marriage.

Tlie Sacred Congregation of the Council declared (11 February, 1908) that the dispensations granted in the Bull " Provida " of 18 January, 1906, for Ger- many will still remain in force. _ According to this Bull, while Catholic marriages in Germany were made subject to the decree "Tametsi", mixed mar- riages and those of Protestants among themselves were exempted. (See Marriage; Parish Priest; Domicile.)

Canones £t Decreta Sacrosancti (Ecumenici ConcUii Triden- tini (Rome, 1S93); Decretum, " Ne Temere" (2 August, 1907); Gasparri, Tractatus Canonicxis de Matrimonio (Paris, 1904); Wernz, Jus Decrdalium (Rome, 1904), IV; Ojetti, Synopsis Rcrum Moralium et Juris Ponlificii (Prate, 1904); Zitelli, ApvaTtztns Juris Ecclesiastici (Rome, 1903); Smith, Elements of Ecclesiastical Law (New York, 1887), I; Duchesne, Chris- tian Worship (London, 1904); Feije, De imped, et disv. matrim. (4th ed., Louvain, 1893); Joder, Formulnire matrimonial (4th ed., Paris, 1897); Bassibey. De In riniidfxiniili dans /r marjaffe (Paris. 1903); Laurentius, Insl}!uth'U' i.iri- cccl. (Freiburg, 1903) 443-51; Taunton. The L,iw ..I!!,,■ Church (London, 1906). For a commentary on the decree " Ne Temere," see McNicholas in Amer. Ecclesiastical Review (Philadelphia, February, 1908); O'Neill. tWd. (April, 1908), and Cronih . The New Matrimonial Legislation (Rome, 1908).

J. D. O'Neill.

Clarendon, Constitutions of. See Thomas Becket, Saint.

Clare of Assisi, Saint, cofoundress of the Order of Poor Ladies, or Clares, and first Abbess of San Damiano; b. at Assisi, 16 July, 1194; d. there 11 August, 1253. She was the eldest daughter of Fa- vorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, the wealthy rep- resentative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in Assisi and a castle on the slope of Mount Subasio. Such at least is the traditional ac- count. Her mother, Bl. Ortolana, belonged to the noble family of Fiumi and was conspicuous for her zeal and piety. From her earliest years Clare seems to have been endowed with the rarest virtues. As a child she was most devoted to prayer and to prac- tices of mortification, and as she passed into girl- hood her distaste for the world and her yearning for a more spiritual life increased. She was eighteen years of age when St. Francis came to preach the Lenten course in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi. The inspired words of the Poverello kindled a flame in the heart of Clare; she sought liim out secretly and begged him to help her that she too might live "after the manner of the holy Gospel". St. Francis, who at once recognized in Clare one of those chosen souls destined by Ciod for great tilings, and who also, doubtless, foresaw that many would follow her example, promised to assist her. On Palm Sunday Clare, arr.ayed in all her finery, at- tended high Mass at the cathedral, but when the others pressed forward to the altar-rail to receive a branch of pabn, she remained in her place as if rapt ill Ji dream. All eyes were upon the young girl as the bishop descended from the sanctuary and placed the palm in her hand. That was the last time the world beheld Clare. On the night of the same day she secretly left her father's house, by St. Francis's advice, and, accompanied by her aunt" Bianca and another companion, proceeded to the humlile chapel of the Porziuncula, where St. Fnincis and his disciples met licr with lights in their hands. Clare then laid aside her rich dress, and St. Francis, having cut off her hair, clothed her in a rough timic and a thick veil, and in this way the young heroine vowed herself to the service of Jesus Christ. This was 20 March, 1212.

Clare was placed by St. Francis provisionally with the Benedictine nuns of San Paolo, near Bastia, but her father, who had expected her (o make a splendid marriage, and who was furious at her secret flight, on discovering her retreat, did his utmost to dissuade

Clare from her heroic proposals, and even tried to drag her home by force. But Clare held her own with a firmness above her years, and Count Favorino was finally obliged to leave her in peace. A few days later St. Francis, in order to secure Clare the greater soUtude she desired, transferred her to Sant' Angelo in Panzo, another monastery of the Benedictine nuns, on one of the flanks of Subasio. Here, some sixteen days after her own flight, Clare was joined by her younger sister Agnes, whom she was instrumental in delivering from the persecution of their infuriated relatives. (See Agnes, Saint, of Assisi.) Clare and her sister remained with the nuns at Sant' Angelo. until they and the other fugitives from the world who had followed them were estabUshed by St. Francis in a rude dwelling adjoining the poor chapel of San Da- miano, situated outside the town, which he had to a great extent re- built 'nitli his own hands, and which he now obtained from the Benedic- tines as a perman- ent abode for his spiritual daugh- ters. Thus was founded the first commimity of the Order of Poor Ladies, or of Poor Clares, as this second order of St. Francis came to be called.

The history of the Poor Clares ■n-ill be dealt with

in a separate ar- at Asaisi

tide. Here it suf- fices to note that we may distinguish, during t he lifetime of St. Clare, three stages in the complicated early lii.-^- tory of the new order. In the beginning St. Clare ami her companions had no written rule to follow beyond a very si lort form iila ritfr given t hem by St. Francis, and which maybe found among his works. (See " Opus- cula S. P. Francisci", ed. Quaracchi, 1904, 7,5, and "The Writings of St. Francis", ed. Robinson, Philadelphia, 1906, 77.) Some years later, apparently in 1219, during St. Francis s absence in trie East, Cardinal LTgohno, then protector of the order, afterwards Greg- ory IX, drew up a written rule for the Clares at Motiticelli. takins; as a basis the Rule of St. Benedict, n t.ilniTi^^ tlir luii.l:iinental points of the latter and .•mMiiil: ^niiii >|iri i;il constitutions. This new rule, wliitli. iu cITect il not in intention, took away from the Clares the Franciscan character of absolute poverty so dear to the heart of St. Francis and made them for all practical purposes a congregation of Bene- dictines, was approved by Honorius III (Bull, "Sa- crosancta", 9 Dec, 1219). When Clare found that the new rule, though strict enough in other respects, allowed the holding of projierty in common, she courageously and successfully resisted the innova- tions of I'golino as being entirely opposed to the intentions of St. Francis. The latter had forbidden the Poor Ladies, just as he had forbidden his fri:u-s, to possess any worldly goods even in common. Own- ing nothing, they were to depend entirely upon what the Friars Minor could lieg for them. This complete renunciation of all )iroperty was however regarded by Ugolino as unpractical for cloistered women. When, therefore, in 122S, he came to Assisi for the canoniza- tion of St. Francis (having meanwhile ascended the